Write Table to file (Excel or otherwise) in background

Question

Hello All,
I am new the ABAP programming with only self training (two weeks).  I have searched forums for 4 days trying to find usable solutions.  I am writing directly to see if someone can point me in the correct direction.
I have to output data from multiple tables into a file for transmission to another site.  My first attempt used the OPEN DATASET and a TRANSFER.  This works in interactive and in background mode, but the lines in file are truncated at 255 characters, this was true for both TEXT mode and BINARY mode.
My second attempt used the GUI_DOWNLOAD to put the file into a tab delimited excel type format.  This gets all the fields and all the characters, but can't be run in background mode.
How can I get a file that has a  line lenth of about 600 characters into a file for FTP?
Thanks for assistance,
Steven M Engel
Attempt 1 - Problem is that the lines in p_file are limited to 255 characters.
    OPEN DATASET p_file FOR OUTPUT IN TEXT MODE ENCODING DEFAULT.
   OPEN DATASET p_file FOR OUTPUT IN BINARY MODE.
    IF sy-subrc = 0.
      LOOP AT gt_delivery.
        TRANSFER txt_delivery     TO p_file.
      ENDLOOP.
    ENDIF.
    WRITE: 'File has been generated'.
Attempt 2 - Problem is that can't be run in background mode.
Export the file
call function 'GUI_DOWNLOAD'
   exporting
     FILENAME                = LV_FILE
     FILETYPE                = 'DBF'
   tables
     DATA_TAB                = gt_delivery
     FIELDNAMES              = LT_FIELDNAMES
   exceptions
     FILE_WRITE_ERROR        = 1
     NO_BATCH                = 2
     GUI_REFUSE_FILETRANSFER = 3
     INVALID_TYPE            = 4
     NO_AUTHORITY            = 5
     UNKNOWN_ERROR           = 6
     HEADER_NOT_ALLOWED      = 7
     SEPARATOR_NOT_ALLOWED   = 8
     FILESIZE_NOT_ALLOWED    = 9
     HEADER_TOO_LONG         = 10
     DP_ERROR_CREATE         = 11
     DP_ERROR_SEND           = 12
     DP_ERROR_WRITE          = 13
     UNKNOWN_DP_ERROR        = 14
     ACCESS_DENIED           = 15
     DP_OUT_OF_MEMORY        = 16
     DISK_FULL               = 17
     DP_TIMEOUT              = 18
     FILE_NOT_FOUND          = 19
     DATAPROVIDER_EXCEPTION  = 20
     CONTROL_FLUSH_ERROR     = 21
     not_supported_by_gui    = 22
     error_no_gui            = 23
     others                  = 24.

Answer 1

It is very difficult to get FM GUI_DOWNLOAD to run in the background. There is a white paper out there that describes how to do it, but I never heard of it actually being done successfully.
The TRANSFER statement should work for wider records. You can check that it does by reading the file back in and then looking at an offset (rec+255).
Rob